Chocks away for world's biggest model aircraft ... shame £8,000 B-50 bomber can only fly for 8min

The Daily Mail (U.K.) ^ | April 21, 2010

[Stoat]

My apologies for the severe editing of this article.....this was done in order to remain in compliance with Free Republic rules pertaining to the posting of articles from the UK Daily Mail.  Please click on the main article link to see the full story, as well as a video.

 

 

Built by Tony Nijhuis in his garage the aircraft is a scale version of the US bomber and has a 20ft wingspan and weighs just over seven stones

 

 

Enlarge 

 

 

It has 96 batteries that power four electric motors which drive the aircraft to 40mph along a 50m runway before it takes off

 

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XE.com- GBP to USD rate- 8,000.00 GBP = 12,319.79 USD

 

Live rates at 2010.04.21 16:30:28 UTC
8,000.00 GBP	=	12,319.79 USD
United Kingdom Pounds		United States Dollars
1 GBP = 1.53997 USD		1 USD = 0.649362 GBP

 

 

7.  (plural stone orstones) U.K. measurements unit of weight: in the United Kingdom, a unit of weight equivalent to 6.35 kg (14 lb). It is used especially for expressing somebody's weight.
He's trying to get down to 12 stone.

 

 

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The Nijhuis B-50 - More Features

 

The Nijhuis B-50

By David Ashby

she's finished! - 26/10/09

 

Tony Nijhuis has just sent in some pics having completed his B-50 (featured here earlier this year). With a span of just under 19 ft and weighing over 80lbs, it's one of the largest electric models you'll find anywhere. 

 

Motor power is provided courtesy of four 4-Max PPPO-6367-230 outrunner motors, each capable of developing 3kW of power and total motive power of 12kW. Battery power is provide by NiMH cells (96 in total) and be could be increased to 144..(36 cells per motor) if required. She's a beauty! 

 

You can Click here to watch the B-50's maiden flights.

 

Related Articles

• RCM&E Video

 

The Tony Nijhuis Boeing B-50 - More Features

The Tony Nijhuis Boeing B-50

By David Ashby

Full story in the next issue..... - 21/4/10

 

We brought news of Tony Nijhus' massive Boeing B-50, one of the largest electric powered models in the world, last year and we'll have Tony's full account of the project in the next (June 2010) issue of RCM&E.

 

Popping down to see him and photograph the model last week, we were joined by a freelance national news reporter so you may see the model appearing in the national press in the not too distant future. Here he is getting some snaps.....

 

As you can see, the 19ft span, 80lb model requires the appropriate transportation arrangements....

 

....and a few cells to get airborne!   

 

 

Resplendent in it's new finish, simply put, it's an awesome aeroplane. Don't miss the full story next month! 

 

[Stoat]

Ping :-)

[mrmeyer]

Can it be retrofitted with a flux capacitor?

[Paladin2]

"it has 96 batteries that power four electric motors"

That my be why the real things use avgas IC engines and APUs.

[Robe]

He needs to get some 4 bladed props for that thing ...

[GeronL]

That is really cool.

[KMG365]

Awesome

[Stoat]

Readers may also be interested in this site:

 

The Large Model Association

 

 

 

The Large Model Association (LMA) is based in the UK. Its members are interested in the designing, building and flying of large model aircraft. 

[thackney]

It is the Daily Mail’s requirement to be excepted.

[corkoman]

Didnt know there was a B-50 until now.

Sneaky War Dept guys looking to extend procurement of the cancelled B-29 by calling the upgraded B-29 a new aircraft.

Or so says Wikipedia and I dont trust them very much.

[Joe 6-pack]

That's cool, being electric and all, but this is way cooler.

[OldDeckHand]

Someone needs a girlfriend.

[IYAS9YAS]

The first model airplane I tried to broke into several chunks about 5 seconds after launch (which way is up?). I still find pieces of it more than three years later. Thankfully, it was one of those electric motor styrofoam jobbies that was under $100 bucks. My dad augered his much more expensive model into a wheat field at full throttle. Poor pilot was decapitated by the wing and the plane was buried up to the cockpit. It took us nearly an hour to find it. I finally spotted what was left of the tail and rudder assembly sticking up above the wheat.

[llevrok]

Large model association?

[Age of Reason]

Boring.

[RobRoy]

Go to YouTube and type in B-29 model. There is a HUGE one out there as well as one that launches an actual rocket propelled X-1 controlled by a separate pilot.

Actually, YouTube has an amazing number of model airplane and Model Helicopter videos.

[RobRoy]

...except the B-29’s are not electric. They are actual gas powered. The “smaller” one actually has four blade props just like the real thing. The larger one is so big that they said the four blade thing would not work and they had to go with two blades. It may be why this B-50 has two bladed props as well.

[RobRoy]

Oops. I see you are ahead of the curve on this... ;)

[massgopguy]

“Among the injured were.........”

[DuncanWaring]

Here's a real one for comparison: